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He was also in Cadets for four years. Sometimes it was just Honour Boards that were prepared and installed in buildings or public places, and sometimes monuments were set up just for the day and then taken down. He was awarded a Military Cross with two bars for his bravery, and returned home safely to Australia in With him at enlistment was best mate Henry 'Harry' Burns of similar age. C-Coy was on the right, with D-Coy on the left but they noticed that the barrage was falling short and some of their own men were getting hit. Free public transport services were offered for ticketholders during the World Cup, including additional trains linking between host cities, as well as services such as bus service within them. The first attack by vandals on the cenotaph the steps was in November

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But the strategy changed and they were sent to Gallipoli to begin the fight, arriving on 25 April - now famously known as Anzac Day.

As the casualty lists of British soldiers started appearing in the newspapers, private and public prayers for the men began. It came as a shock when the first Australian casualties were released - just after the landing at Gallipoli.

The first Queenslanders included men from the Stephens Shire who were killed during the 9th Battalion's landing at Gallipoli on 25 April Their obituaries are presented later. The first officer from the Stephens Shire and one of the first Queenslanders to die was Jack Rigby who was the first from Stephens Shire to enlist and the first to die.

He was killed in action the day of the landing - 25 April His fellow officers - pictured above - were also killed or injured: Mistakes were often made. In the casualty list above Lt George Thomas was reported as being killed in action when in fact his shoulder was smashed by shrapnel while at 'The Cup' - a small gully near Owen's Post at Gallipoli - and he survived.

His parents were dismayed to be told of his death but surprised to hear that he was just wounded. An extract from his letter to the army reads:. Over the next two years more local men enlisted, and more names of wounded, killed and missing appeared in the papers.

Thus began services for the fallen and the construction of memorials in their honour. As soldiers returned home, local communities had public welcoming ceremonies in their honour. The first for Yeronga was held in the local hall on 11 July In November that same year another ceremony was held to "express appreciation to 53 soldiers who volunteered and to the 7 who returned home".

Mrs Rigby, mother of the district's first casualty adorned the returned men with insignias. A further ceremony - prior to the construction of any official memorial - was held on 3 August The Cenotaph Gardens 5. There is an arced pathway between the Ipswich Road gate and the old entrance in School Road see above. It is known as Anzac Parade and is a narrow gravel path although shown as being as wide as Honour Avenue on maps from Historian Rod Fisher said "There is no reason to doubt the second-generation anecdotal evidence of a School Rd resident in that a third set of memorial gates was intended in Park Road or that the original avenue of symbolic palms was seeded from Palestine and the Middle East by returned soldiers.

This would have completed the park design nicely and may be supported by the newspaper letter of a visitor in early who deplored depredations upon the young palms, planted only several months before, by errant calves.

Looking up Honour Avenue towards the Cenotaph. This photograph was taken on 21 September before the new name plaques were installed. On the right, the nearest tree 89 is for for John Ormiston, and behind that trees for Walter Morgan 85 and John Gilhespy The memorial at Yeronga consists of a avenue of trees and, later, a cenotaph.

Whereas the cenotaph is a deeply imperial form, used throughout the British Empire to honour the war dead, the Avenue of Honour is indigenous. Its origin stems from a promise made at first to Victorian soldiers during recruiting drives in that their names would be memorialised in an Avenue of Honour.

This then spread to other states. The biggest planting was in Ballarat, Victoria, where plaqued trees were planted in a 14 mile row by The use of native or exotic trees depended less on the planters' sense of appropriate symbolism than on what they thought would survive. Yeronga's Honour Avenue was created in March when land was acquired from the Yeronga School Reserve for the purpose of a memorial avenues of trees to commemorate the sacrifice by soldiers of the local community the Stevens Shire in World War 1.

A major proponent of the avenue was Mrs Julia Rigby - mother of fallen soldier Jack Rigby who died on the very first day of the Anzac landing at Gallipoli. The choice of a site for a memorial was always going to be one that was prominent and accessible.

The local park or a central intersection of roads were the most common locations in Australia. Ground outside public schools was the next most popular choice - and this is what we find at Yeronga.

It is next to a school that a monument can perform one of its many duties: As the chairman of one Anzac ceremony stated "[the memorial] is a constant reminder to the rising generation of the devotion and self-sacrifice of the brave lads of the district who heard thir Country's call". As the Queensland Under-Secretary for Public Instruction remarked about the plaques attached to the trees "and the names thereon being mostly those soldiers who had passed through the school".

Planting of trees - alternating weeping fig Ficus benjamina and flame trees Brachychiton acerifolus - began on the 15th September presided over by the chairman of Stephens Shire Council, Councillor Fred. Stimpson with 41 trees planted and was followed by two more ceremonies: Later, two more tree were planted and plaques added.

At the time metal name-plates inscribed with the names of the 95 soldiers were attached to small wooden white-painted posts. The plates were in the form of a shield and bore the inscription of the name and battalion of the soldier and the words "To Honour His Name". Vandalism began on the 28th October and a reward was offered by the Council for information leading to the conviction of the culprits. Over the years the name-plates were stolen and by none remained. For a full listing of the trees in numerical order please see my web page at Yeronga Memorial Park - Trees.

The Queenslander of 22 September reported that 'On Saturday afternoon at Yeronga Park, an impressive ceremony consisting of the planting of an avenue of trees was performed by the chairman of Stephens Shire Council, Councillor FA Stimpson. The idea was initiated by the Council, as an honour to the residents of the shire, who had paid the supreme sacrifice in the great world war.

Many of the residents had to come to live in the area only recently and their sons had grown up and enlisted in towns far from Yeronga. Their deeds would be later listed in other memorials. Nevertheless, the parents were amongst the crowds attending these services. Deaths of their loved ones far away was particularly difficult to cope with.

Unlike families whose menfolk had died in accidents at work and their bodies could be laid to rest nearby, the families of men killed in the Great War were deprived of the traditional mourning rituals of their culture. Their dead were overseas. Not knowing the whereabouts of a soldier son, whether he was alive or dead, and if dead, where his body lay was particularly distressing. Though there is no way to judge anguish, the worst sufferers in Australia during and after the Great War may be those relatives who just did not know the answer to these questions.

Lt Col George Arthur Ferguson addresses a gathering on Saturday the 15th September in Yeronga Park at the first planting of trees and mounting of inscribed plaques in memory of 41 fallen soldiers.

He received severe gunshot wounds to his abdomen in the Battle of the Somme in France and almost didn't survive. Ferguson, who represented the State Commandant, Brigadier-General Irving, spoke of the local men's gallantry. Lieutenant-Colonel Ferguson said he considered it a great honour to be present at a function like this, having fought with most of these dead heroes, who before enlisting were nearly all in the training area now controlled by him. He had attended the funerals of some of them at the Front.

After the speech the departed men's next of kin planted the 41 alternating weeping fig and flame trees both sides of Honour Avenue starting at the Park Road entrance.

Lieutenant-Colonel Ferguson planted one in memory of James Fielding whose relatives were in England and Councillor Stimpson planted a tree in the memory of Robert Douglas whose relatives could not attend.

This photo above was taken near the Park Road gates just prior to the first planting of trees. See Yeronga Memorial Park - Trees for the trees in order of planting. From mid patriotic groups were formed to raise money for war loans and for comforts for the soldiers abroad, and to induce men to join the AIF.

Fund-raising ceremonies were organised throughout Australia and on every anniversary of the Anzac landing ceremonies were held to celebrate these purposes. Sometimes it was just Honour Boards that were prepared and installed in buildings or public places, and sometimes monuments were set up just for the day and then taken down.

As time passed there was a conviction amongst the Australian public that permanent memorials were ritually needed, and that honour boards were not enough. What became apparent was that local people wanted to erect monuments to give public honour to local men.

The first in Australia was unveiled at the inner suburb of Balmain, Sydney on 23 April However, the first soldier statue of the war was erected in front of the Post Office in central Newcastle and unveiled just three weeks before Anzac Day It was a gift from retired naval officer Commander Frank Gardner the link takes you my webpage about him and the statue.

The War Precautions Act was introduced in October to prevent so many memorials being erected. Its purpose seems to have been twofold: Another large gathering took place at Yeronga Park, in the Stephens shire, on Saturday, the occasion being the planting of a second lot of trees in Honour avenue in honour of the Stephens soldiers who have made the supreme sacrifice at the Front. Brief addresses were made from a small platform over which waved the flag of flags.

The Chairman Councillor F. Stimpson , in welcoming the Governor, said this was the second occasion of tree planting in honour of their heroes, and they desired to extend a cordial welcome to his Excellency and Lady Goold-Adams. He sincerely hoped this would be the last planting it would be necessary to make. Their total enlistments from the shire to date were , and the deaths at the Front numbered That afternoon they were planting 31 more trees to the memory of their boys.

The Governor said their thoughts were concentrated in doing honour to those who had laid down their lives for them. To the relatives present it might be but poor consolation to say that their dear ones had fallen in a noble cause, but if they analysed what they had done there must be a feeling of pride in their minds and hearts.

To him it was incomprehensible how some people in the world could sit down or go about their business calmly, allowing others to do that duty they were called upon to perform. He congratulated the Stephens shire on the good work it was doing.

It was a charming idea that each tree should wave in the breeze and throw a shadow over the ground sanctified by the name of the man who had fallen. The gallantry shown by the sons of Australia on the battle front had won the admiration of the whole world.

Please see Yeronga Memorial Park - Trees for the listing of trees for the second planting. The Brisbane Courier of the Monday 25th August reported the ceremony thus:. The third and final tree planting ceremony under the direction of the Stephens Shire Council was held in Yeronga Park on Saturday afternoon, persons being present, Councillor F. Stimpson, who presided, said that men had enlisted from the district, and 93 had been killed. That afternoon they were planting 21 trees to the memory of those who had fallen.

Previously they had planted 72 trees, making a total ot 93 trees in all in the honour avenue. He also announced that a memorial was to be erected at the end of the avenue and he asked for public support. The shire clerk Mr. Bale read a list of the names of all who had fallen. Hughes congratulated the shire on the way in which it was keeping green the memory of the lads who had fallen. Huxham Home Secretary also spoke, and hoped that the trees would remind them not only of the lads who had fallen, but also of their dependents.

Others present included Mr. Macartney Leader of the Opposition and Mr. The 1st District Military Band rendered selections during the afternoon. The crowds did grow bigger. The reason was simple. If we count as family a soldier's parents, children, brothers and sisters, aunts, uncles and cousins - then every second Australian family was bereaved by the war. It was no wonder the numbers grew. But it was private grief they had to contend with. In public, grief was not as welcome. Publicly, soldiers' deaths were deaths for the nation in defence of nothing less than civilization itself.

In public one had to be stoic and there was a common belief that the private grief expressed at home should be repressed in public. This must have been so hard for mothers and wives attending these Anzac Day ceremonies men had grown up with this repression in public.

This was captured in a poignant introspective verse from a wife - Charlotte Rahilly - on the death of her husband Patrick - Headmaster at St John's School, Glenferrie, Victoria. He was killed at Poziers in July Looking down Honour Avenue to the main entrance in Park Road. Note the bend in the road.

The trees down both sides are weeping figs, the flame trees having died many years ago. The trees you can see were not memorials to any particular soldier. The last tree with a plaque for a soldier is the sixth one down the right side and that is tree No. The closest tree on the right would be number As well as weeping figs and flame trees, additional plantings of more figs and some leopard trees Ceasalpinea ferrea have been made by the Parks Superintendent over the years to replace dead or vandalised trees.

In the fig trees had to be pruned to ensure they survived drought conditions that were being experienced in Queensland at the time. The timing of the White Fig Ficus virens planting see Doolan's tree 15 in the avenue is unknown. Avenues of Honour commemorating World War I were a memorial form unique to Australia and the Yeronga avenue is thought to be the second oldest memorial planting in Australia.

Various 'Patriotic Leagues' were set up after the war to raise funds for the building of war memorials in towns all over Australia. They had to decide on the nature of the memorial: They also had to decide the catchment from which to solicit donations and names of the dead. In some parts of Australia competing groups fought for donations and the right to build these monuments; often separated on religious line Protestants vs Roman Catholics. The Stephens Shire Council had to settle on the form of the memorial, so they looked at what was being done elsewhere.

It seems that the idea of a utilitarian building had been ruled out early. However, among purely monumental forms no single type predominated. The newly popular word 'cenotaph' was used for monuments like the one at Whitehall in London - a tomb on a pylon.

The word 'cenotaph' means literally 'empty tomb' and this seemed particularly apt as the local soldiers were buried far away in a foreign land. The broadening understanding of the actual form of a memorial meant that it was always going to represent an 'empty tomb'.

The Council decided on a cenotaph with a pedastal inside. Within the pedastal was the empty 'surrogate' tomb of the soldiers and their names were to be inscribed on the sides. In , they announced a competition for the design.

In February , the winner of the design competition was announced: Henry Priest was born in London in and came to Australia in the s and married Isabella Hunter in They lived in Palmerston St, just off Ipswich Road Annerley where they had three sons and a daughter. Son Arthur died in Cairo from enteric fever in February at the age of Henry returned to Australia in with heart disease preventing him from active service and was discharged upon arrival.

Son Walter returned in Henry entered the memorial design competition run by the Stephens Shire Council in and was announced the winner in February H Priest, late of the 9 th Battalion.

The memorial, which is to be erected at Honor-avenue, Yeronga Park, would will be visible from many of the surrounding suburbs, will take the form of a 'Peace Temple' 12ft square. According to the design the base is 22 ft square, and there are four entrances beneath the dome, lighted by four 32 candlepower electric lights. The dome is supported by 12 plain columns of the Doric order, terminating with well designed moulded facies, embellished at the angles with Acacia leaves.

The apex of the roof supports a sphere 5 ft in diameter, with a map of Australia, upon which is alighted the 'Messenger of Light'. This figure is 11ft in height, and carries a flare in the right hand. In the centre of the temple stands the "Entablature," constructed of polished trachyte and white marble surmounted upon a base of rough hewn - ashlar design - trachyte, with a work edge, the whole surmounted by a porcelain figure of "Peace".

The completed memorial will stand some 40 ft high, and will stand in orientation with the bearings of the line of Honor-avenue. The memorial will be surrounded by a ground plot design representing the zodiacal sign. The greater part of the work is to be constructed of reinforced concrete, giving durability and strength.

The Cenotaph is a square pavilion rendered in concrete. The corner pilasters have ornamental capitals which carries a thin encircling entablature with a heavy projecting cornice above. Note the low parapet which conceals a gutter for the domed roof. I consulted two expert architects for a comment on Priest's design of the Cenotaph and asked what may have influenced the design by Sgt Henry Hayward Priest in This is their view:. This describes the arch resting on small columns, inside are recesses within larger columns supporting a flat lintel.

This is high renaissance in its stylistic sources. Sgt Priest might more likely have seen it on the Queensland Parliament. It is certainly not based on an open Greek temple as some have suggested as they didn't have arches or domes. Classical architecture and art was used as it aligned the warrior dead with the nobility and deeds of the Greeks Romans. The ancientness of classical forms also aligned the fallen with ancient warriors. The language of classicism was generally understood by the public at large - modernism was not understood and did not have the symbolic power to carry the message of Anzac to future generations.

The form of the cenotaph could probably be described as a rotunda or pavilion. Not unique in Australia but a little unusual - it would have been very expensive for a small community. Its a fine piece of work. Its very similar in style and intent to to the Narrogin War Memorial in Western Australia which is a rectangular pavilion with a small pillar inside with the names of the dead.

There are 97 names on the four memorial tablets, 96 of whom are soldiers and one a sailor. Their bodies were not brought home. This is the tablet mounted on the polished trachyte pillar on a sandstone plinth inside the cenotaph facing the gate. In , when it was made, it contained the names of the Chairman of the Stephens Shire Council Cr Stimpson , eight councillors, Shire Clerk, the builder and the architect as envisaged in Priest's original design.

This caused a huge controversy in the local community who saw the councillors' names as self-serving and an insult to "our boys" who died in war.

The debate raged at public meetings and in the Brisbane Courier newspaper from May to November Eventually the council acceded to the unsubtle comment of the Governor who told the audience at the opening of the gates that the councillors' services were not comparable to those of the men who fought" and hoped they would be removed.

This was done hence the conspicuously blank unmatching piece of marble on the bottom half of the tablet. The story of the sorry saga is below.

The fight to have one soldier's name added to the Memorial Tablet was orchestrated by the mother and sister of Sgt William Percival Sparkes - a Gallipoli veteran and original Anzac who returned incapacitated to Brisbane towards war's end and died of a war-related heart condition a few years later. The Stephens Shire Council rejected his name for inclusion on the Memorial Tablet as he did not "die overseas during the war", but neither did the other dozen people whose names were on the tablet - the Chairman and members of the Stephens Council, the Shire Clerk, the builder and the architect.

Cr Stimpson publicly railed against the pressure of the two women but when the Governor dropped a less-than-subtle hint, Stimpson - unrepentantly - acceeded. The marble plaque was removed in the first week of November see photo above. Click here to read the text of the Governor's comment. At the time he was well known in musical, sporting and horticultural circles from his home "Glen View" in Annerley Road, South Brisbane Shire of Stephens. Within months of enlisting No. Sparkes landed at Gallipoli with the first Anzacs in April and was soon Mentioned in Despatches for acts of gallantry under fire and working to exhaustion in the trenches.

On 6th May received gunshot wounds to his back, foot and leg and was invalided out to Alexandria for six weeks and then returned to Gallipoli as a Corporal and then promoted to Quartermaster-Sergeant of the 41st Battery.

After Gallipoli was evacuated he served several months on the Suez Canal and then took to the field in France. His health however had been affected by the strain of his campaigns and on 15th June he was diagnosed with a heart murmur "due to war service" his doctor wrote on his record and was certified permanently unfit for service.

Sgt Sparkes was invalided home in August and discharged in Australia on 17th October In he stood for the Buranda seat in the State Legislative Assembly but was slurred by his opponent - the sitting member John Saunders Huxham - who accused Sparkes of being a "supposed soldier" not a real one.

This, really, is the one blemish on Huxham's otherwise charitable and noble character. His health did not improve and he died on 15th December from an aortic aneurism which, in the opinion of the doctors at the Rosemount Repatriation General Hospital, "was considered as largely attributable to war service conditions".

His personal war diaries and papers were purchased by the State Library of New South Wales in and they are now available to the public. The original design of the Cenotaph by Sgt Priest called for a surrounding ring of garden beds, with inspiring words carved into a zodiacal design in the paving see below.

The Cenotaph was to be mounted in a ring of blue couch grass 20 foot in diameter. Surrounding this was another concentric ring 20 foot wide consisting of white gravel. Surrounding this was another 20 foot wide ring in which seven triangles of concrete paving were to be evenly spaced.

They were to display the words: In between the triangles were flower beds of white and red azaleas, erica, bouvardia, rhynchostylus, roses, and jasmin.

On the outside of this, and sprawling into the rest of the park, were beds of lagerstroemia, fracisea? It is not certain who drew these plans or when they were made. The second plan shown above incorporates the Cenotaph and is probably a later design They are both written in the same hand. Historian Rod Fisher speculates that it might have been Harry Moore, the enterprising superintendent of Brisbane's parks , or Ernest W Bick, curator of the Botanic Gardens , or "some other exponent such as Alexander Jolly who was becoming known for his innovative landscaping in Ithaca Shire c ".

The designer envisiged Honour Avenue coming straight up from the Park Road gates as it does now and heading directly to the Cenotaph which it doesn't do. For the last section into the Memorial Gardens, a 20 foot wide gravel path was to join Honour Avenue to the Cenotaph.

As well, off to the other side would be a 10 foot wide white gravel path leading off to Ipswich Road. There was also to be another path leading off towards School Road. Ultimately, none of the gardens were built to this design.

A plantation of trees was envisaged to fill the area between the bent road and Ipswich Road gates. It is not know why a bend was put in the road. Some plaques to soldiers were installed under these trees in but they were never in the original design. Honour Avenue - Park Road Gates.

The weeping fig to the left is the No. It still stands after nearlly a century. In the original plans for the park in , there was no mention of gates to mark the formal entrances to Honour Avenue. A resident of the area - Thomas F. Overden - was head carpenter for Burke's Shipping Line at South Brisbane when their premises were being renovated. There were two sets of gates surplus to their needs and these were donated to the Council as imposing entrances to the park.

Gates have often been used in memorials such as this. They are a powerful symbol which stand for dead soldiers' passage to whatever lies beyond. The gates comprise four brick piers with stone trimmings and wrought-iron gates designed by architect John Cohen Richards in September The Ipswich Road gates were opened in October that year.

The restoration work involved repairing broken welds, straightening bent sections, repairing brickwork, restoring plaques, and applying fresh paint. The weeping fig on the left originally commemorated the service and sacrifice of Leslie Kenyon - but the plaque like all the plaques has been stolen or lost but since replaced.

On the gates of the memorial park are tributes to World War 2 soldiers. The general public after WW2 was wary of purely commemorative memorials as a Gallup poll found at the time. The post war period saw a triumph of utility. Local communities still wanted to remember their fallen but in ways that served the living: In Queensland - like the rest of Australia - it was not as common to erect memorials to WW2 fallen but rather to add their names to the WW1 memorials offered by the previous generation.

This was an expedient solution that also avoided adding to the post-war housing shortage where precious bricks and mortar could be used on something people said was more useful. At Yeronga the solution was the bronze plaque. It was rather unusual for women to be commemorated for their efforts in the Great War. Admittedly, these plaques on the main gates and Ipswich Road gates were installed in the s but nevertheless do recognise the contribution of women in what was fought as essentially a man's war.

She became a staff nurse and departed Yeronga for military service in India on the 2nd June Here she tended to the injured from the Mesopotamian conflict - mainly around Basra now southern Iraq where the British and Turkish soldiers were fighting. She reluctantly resigned in July when she became married. Besides Julia Lyllis Rigby, two other local women who served their country in the Great War need recognising. Madeline and Marjorie Wilson were sisters who attended Yeronga State School and their names are on the school's Honour Board for service as nurses in the war.

She had finished three years of nurse training at the Royal Brisbane Hospital and had worked for the next eight months as a general medicala nd surgical nurse. She was sent to the Middle East where she boarded the hospital ship Neuralia on 8th July bound for Gallipoli. On the way the Neuralia picked up surviving troops 21st Bn from the Southland torpedoed by a German submarine on 2nd September. Madeline served aboard the hospital ship for six months transferring the wounded, sick and dead to Alexandria before she herself became sick.

When recovered, she worked as a nurse in Cairo before returning to Australia. After three months service she too became sick and was sent back to England. When recovered she went back to France until June and then to Australia six months later. He returned to Australia to be discharged in July The Stephens RSL Sub-branch intended to rededicate the gates on Saturday 8th October - exactly 90 years to the day after the original opening of the gates.

This co-incided with the regular monthly meeting of the Stephens RSL. However, the weather was so bad it was postponed until Remembrance Day a month later. It seems the weather was bad at the opening photo above and 90 years later. The sub-branch's first-known early morning Anzac service took place at the park gates on 25 April From the moment people first received information of the death of their loved ones in war overseas, Australians sought knowledge of what exactly happened and what became of them.

They needed that knowledge to give substance to the images they had in their minds about their soldier's last moments. They needed to know - was it painless, and did they get blessings of their faith. Mothers wished they had been there to hold their son in their arms to palliate their suffering.

It was important that if they were to come to terms with the death they needed detail. There was a therapeutic value knowing that the death was honourable. Every grain of news of a beloved son was a comfort.

It became important to know if prayers were recited over that sacred spot where they died. Even if a body was not found it was a comfort to parents and wives to know that a virtual site for their grief had been sanctified by their comrades to whom the care of the dead had been assigned. Even of there was no grave then the position of where they were last seen was important.

In the obituaries below there is enough detail to show that fellow soldiers did look after their mates; that their loved ones were given religious rites, and that their deaths were honourable. I have included a letter from Queenslander Corporal Denis Rowden Ward - 9th Battalion - who wrote to a friend while he was convalescing in hospital from a wound received at Gallipoli.

Letters such as these gave comfort to the families of dead soldiers. This letter had information that was vital to two families - information about the burial of a Lance Corporal Phillip de Quetteville Robin , 10th Battalion, who was killed at Gallipoli on 28 April On the Thursday 20 May men were sent up to Quinn's Post to act as supports and fill up gaps in the firing line. We were told we should be relieved by tea time, and so left our packs with the men staying behind.

Dougall took the party up, and I went with Lieut. Ross to the left, at Quinn's Post, also with about 15 men. On the side of the communication trench was a body which no one had had time to bury, so 'Dad' Hume [ Sgt James Edward Hume, ] and I took the dead soldier down tho gully a little way and buried him. It turned out to Lance-corporal Robin, of the good old 10th Battalion, who was married at Mena, you will remember. I took his disc, pay book, and letters, and handed them later to Major Brand.

It turned out afterwards that Hume had noticed his wristlet watch, but did not say anything at the time and we buried it with Robins. He had been shot through the skull, and death must have been instantaneous. His features were too disfigured for him to be identified so he couldn't be buried in a named grave. Nevertheless, he was buried in a religious service on sanctified ground at the Lone Pine Memorial, Gallipoli.

Phillip Robin and his 'old tent mate' Private Arthur Blackburn distinguished themselves on the first day of the landing by penetrating further inland and coming closer to the objective of the Gallipoli expedition than any other Australian or Allied troops throughout the entire campaign. The pair were with the battalion scouts and after transferring from the Prince of Wales were in the prow of one of the early boats to land.

Their orders were simple but very clear 'When you get out of the boat, go like hell for Third Ridge'. To read more about Lance-corporal Phillip Robin click here. The honour board was placed on display in the window of John Clarke Kenyon's menswear shop at Queen Street for all of May. They lost their son Les at Gallipoli on 8th August during an action against Turkish forces. The honour board was unveiled by the Governor on Saturday 4th May, at the school.

It was mounted in the foyer of School's office. This ceremony has been going on since then and continues today. I [RW] recall when I was a student at Yeronga State School from to , every year from Grades 3 to 8 we would bring to school wreaths in the form of circles, crosses or the letter "A" and they would be displayed outside our classrooms for everyone to see.

Students were allowed to visit each other's rooms to admire the various designs some home-made, some shop-bought. After morning tea we would march through the side gate to 'our' tree in Honour Avenue. Generally we kept the same tree each year. We would lay our wreaths beside the tree and observe a minute's silence before admiring everyone else's arrangements and returning to school.

The Brisbane City Council would come around the next morning to remove all the wreaths and cards - and incinerate them. I would sometimes sneak up early and take mine home. Once, when I was in Grade 4, I had a particularly good wreath. It had a purple ribbon with yellow writing. I thought it was so marvellous I wanted to keep it from the fire. I was caught by a teacher who sent a Grade 8 boy to grab me but I struggled free and ran home along Park Road with my wreath.

Please contact me if you have photos, corrections or additional information. The following obituaries have been pieced together from the official Brigade and Battalion war diaries, from the soldiers' army records, and from newspaper clippings, BMD records, ancestry files and from relatives of the deceased.

In the tables below the number in the first column is not official but merely represents the order in which the names have been recorded on the plaques in the Cenotaph. The records of First World War soldiers have all been digitised and are available free on the website: National Archives of Australia.

The original metal plaques had all been stolen or badly damaged by and only some of the white posts remained. In the early s the Stephens RSL Sub-Branch took on the major task of replacing lost or damaged plaques with the polished stone plaques which are now in place see photos below.

The idea to replace the plaques came from Joe Kelly, the then Vice-President who, along with other members of the Sub-Branch, including Norm Ballard and Jim Clarkson, placed the plaques in concrete blocks under the trees in Honour Avenue. About 32 remain visible and the remaining plaques are buried under the mulch around the trees or have been accidentally removed during maintenance of the park. The placement of the new plaques did not match the original order from I've obtained the tree-planting plan and naming order from the Brisbane City Council archives and this is shown below: They have been placed in the original order along Honour Avenue.

A Land and Conservation Management Plan was drawn up by the Council and in August this plan won a Queensland Heritage Council award for excellence in heritage conservation. They lived at Browns Plains - an outer suburb to the south of Brisbane. On the 1st October the three boys were playing in the nearby Oxley Creek when they saw a snake and tried to kill it.

The snake bit Vernon on the thumb and left two puncture wounds. Alfred, knowing that it was venomous, and remembering what he had been taught at school about snake bites, put a torniquet around Vern's thumb and wrist and cut the wound with a piece of sharp glass to let the poison out. They went home but Vern was scared that he would have to go to hospital if he told his parents so he went straight to bed.

In the morning he was okay. Alfred was regaled as a hero and his first aid efforts written up in papers all over Queensland see, for example, Rockhampton Morning Bulletin 9th October In , at the age of 18, Alfred joined the Field Artillery Brigade of the Queensland militia stationed in Brisbane and trained for 13 months before he resigned.

He passed the entrance exams for Queensland Railways and became a porter. He left the railways and took up a job as a carter for a bakery. They welcomed their only child Alfred Ernest Ansell on 1 May The three young men decided to enlist in the Army and attended the recruiting office together on 14 September Oswald , Vernon and Alfred The men applied for 4 days leave from November - which was granted - so they could bid farewell to their parents.

The three soldiers had joined the 42nd "in the field" after the major battle at Messines on 7 June , but they were soon involved in the Warneton battle on 31 July. They were allocated to "C" Company.

At the start of October , the 42nd was at the Belgian town of Poperinglie. The weather was cold, but fine and clear, on the 1st October and the batallion prepared for a major operation to the east of Ypres. The Germans planes were bombing the 3rd Division but there was just the one casualty in the 42nd's camp. The next day - 2nd October - the 42nd's war diary records that there were 43 officers and ORs other ranks present for the battle. The batallion was entrained at Poperinglie and soon arrived at Ypres where they bivouaced to the east, near the cemetery.

The 3rd October passed with little incident. The battle was about to take place the next morning - the 4th October The 3rd October passed with little incident but the battle was about to take place on the morning of the 4th.

It was met with an equally fearsome barrage from the Germans. At 6am, the attack on the German lines began. The 42nd's barrage fell like a"wall of flames" on the appointed line The Red Line. The rear troops sustained a fair number of casualties and to avoid more they moved forward up Hill 40 until the whole brigade was crowded into an area of yards.

An enemy machine gun kept firing for 5 minutes. Unknown to Alfred, Vernon had just gone over the top and had been struck by one of their own shells that had fallen short. His leg was almost completely severed from his body and the stretcher bearers took him away to the Dressing Station.

Alfred Ansell was in a trench in Thames Wood - about 50 yards on the eastern side of the railway line from Zonnebeke going towards Passchendaele see map below. He leapt from his trench and "went over the top". At that very moment a German shell landed in the trench and struck Ansell with full force.

One soldier said "he was badly knocked about" but it is evident from other eye-witness accounts that Ansell was torn apart by the bomb. The 42nd batallion took their objective The Red Line by 8am. One hundred German prisoners were taken and nine machine guns captured. However, the 42nd batallion lost 3 officers killed, 2 officers died of wounds and 6 officers wounded.

Most of the casualties were in this Thames Wood area. That same afternoon his platoon mate, Pte James Sheridan - a miner from Gympie - buried what they could of Albert. He was buried where he fell and a rough cross was erected to mark his presence. Thomson was wounded in action the very next day.

Sadly, Alfred's brother-in-law Vernon never survived. He is thought to have died of wounds in the Dressing Station that same day - 4 October Ossie Morse survived the war and returned to Australia.

Sheridan visited Albert's widow Ethel in Brisbane after the war and told her the story. He said that he packaged up Albert's belongings and sent them to her - but they never arrived. On the anniversary of her husband's death in , Ethel inserted a notice into the Brisbane Courier:. Dearer to memory than words can tell Are the thoughts of him we loved so well.

He had an older brother Herbert Horace and a younger one Charles Henry. Herbert and John both enlisted in the army in October in Brisbane. John eventually ended up in France and was wounded in the hip by enemy fire.

He suffered multiple wounds and died and was buried the same day. He was 28 years old. His brother Herbert was killed in action at Villers Bretonneux on 17 July Herbert is not listed in the Yeronga Memorial. He attended St Philip School in that town. Charles married back in Kent and set up a greengrocer's shop with his wife Ellen b and they lived at 7 Kelvin Tce, Sydenham.

The family of Charles, his wife Ellen and their two-year-old son Charles Brighton Beaman emigrated to Australia aboard the Osterley arriving in Brisbane on 25 November He obtained work as a caterer and waiter. His wife Ellen died on 25 December On 11 August he enlisted in the army Reg. After six months training in England, Charles was off to France where he joined the 25Bn.

William had many siblings: The father Michael had just died 9th December before she was born. The mother, Mrs Jane Behan died in 15 August. Their orphaned daughter Agnes was enrolled at Yeronga State School in June at the age of 11 years. William followed in his father's footsteps and became a butcher, eventually opening retail butcher shops at Moorooka and Yeronga. He married Prudence Glancy in and they established themselves at the home "Macclesfield" in Yeronga Street, Yeronga, just over the train line towards the river from Yeronga Park.

In their first child - William James - was born, followed in by Norman Edwin. William joined the army on 11 September R. They arrived in Plymouth in January and were sent to training camp east of London. William was sent to France on 25 June and taken on strength in the 25th Bn three weeks later. He served his time with the 25th Bn as D-Company cook, given his extensive knowledge and skills in butchering.

It fought to exhaustion to turn back the German spring offensive in April. A total of 45 officers and Other Ranks OR were assembled. They were training for a major offensive later that month, preparing to attack the German front line and take their trenches. On the 24th May the 25th Battalion moved from its billet to relieve the 28th Battalion on the front line. In the evening during 4 hours of bombardment of the batallion's trenches by the Germans, Behan had taken refuge in a cellar of an abandoned house in Maricourt, Lambourne.

His cooker was outside the building and he was able to wait in safety ready to feed his men. However, two gas shells fell directly on the house and exploded in the cellar. Beahan was half buried with dirt and severely gassed. A shell fragment penetrated just above his knee and and he had a slight wound on his head.

He dug himself out and made it back to the cooker where he was immediately picked up and carried by stretcher bearers back to the RAP Regimental Aid Post. From here he was taken to the 20th Casualty Clearing Station but died on the way. Three other men were gassed: Another cook was killed but his name is not known. Mrs Behan received a letter dated 6 June advising of his death.

The webmaster of the British cemetery Vignacourt historical website http: She has photgraphed all of the graves at Vignacourt and is seeking photos of the soldiers buried there. His great-grandmother Mrs M. Hall arrived in Brisbane from Torquay, Devonshire, in and was one of the first residents of Thompson Estate now Annerley and Wooloongabba.

She married William Hale Hall and they had 12 children; and her eldest daughter Sarah Bess had the 14 mentioned above. Sarah and Albert lived in Horatio Street, Annerley. Albert was a butcher. The children attended Yeronga State School. His enrolment record is shown below:.

Leslie Norman Bess was the second youngest child in the family. He enlisted on 17 March as soon as he turned Les disembarked Suez on 15 December and made it to Southampton on 24 January He began his training at Sutton Very and was ready for France on 23 April He was in the Meteren-Becque sector suffering heavy bombardment from the instant he arrived.

The men had been taking all precautions against ill-health, particularly trench foot which was having a significant effect on the men. Les came down with a lung infection which saw him sent back to England after just a day or two at the front line.

He was at the 24th General Hospital London when he died of disease. It was lobar pneumonia - an infection that had found its way in to the lobes of his lungs.

He was buried in England. Beith is the most important furniture manufacturing town in Scotland so it is not unexpected to find that Daniel and William completed apprenticeships there with William Walker, Cabinetmaker. Daniel was with Mr Walker for five years when he decided to emigrate to Australia. At the age of 19, Daniel, and Thomas aged 17 , boarded the Ayreshire in Liverpool on 26 April and arrived in Brisbane on 30 June Daniel's oldest brother, William, was already in Brisbane working as a cabinetmaker and soon to be married to Agnes Marguerite Searle 12 Sept In October of the following year he was wounded by the gas from a German shell.

He was off to Reading Military Hospital in England to recuperate. After recovering, instead of sending him back to France, he was sent to Hurdcott Training Camp on 21 November for more training. The Company was camped in the woods and had just finished making their quarters comfortable. They were preparing for the "Hamel Offensive" whereby the machine gunners were to harass enemy works and roads. They marched out at 3. They proceeded without difficulty.

On the night of Thursday 4th, the machine gunners went forward at The German were quick to come up from deep dugouts and getting their gun active. The Germans responded with rounds. Ten ORs were wounded. He was buried at Neuville. He had a sister and two brothers. He joined the Moreton Regiment in Brisbane and was promoted to Lieutenant during his five-year's service.

John returned home to Liverpool in to see his family and when the war broke out he returned to Australia. He was working as a labourer in a fruit cannery. Their only child, Eric John, was born in March John was sent to 13th Training Battalion at Codford where he reverted to ranks on 18th November reverted from Sergeant to Private. They soon cancelled that and promoted him to Acting Corporal before heading to France where he reverted to Private when officially taken on strength with the 49th Battalion in late December He became known as Jack, or "Blakey".

The 49th Battalion had finished that year alternating between front-line duty, and training and labouring behind the line. When Jack joined them this routine continued through the winter of Early in , the battalion participated in the advance that followed the German retreat to the Hindenburg Line, supporting the 13th Brigade's attack at Noreuil on 2nd April.

The battalion was about to fight in the battle of Messines on 7th June. The objective for the 13th Brigade was to capture two lines of trenches. Of this the objective for the 49th Battalion was to take right side trenches from O Zero hour at Messines was 2am on the 7th June The men steadied themselves for the assault at The time arrived and a creeping barrage of artillery shells began about yards on their side of the objective.

This curtain of falling shells moved forward at 30 yards a minute until it reached the green line. There it continued for 15 minutes and then was raised started rolling past the line and continued moving forward. This was the cue to begin the assault. Their jumping off line was O C-Coy and D-Coy were the first to go but they noticed that the barrage was falling short and some of their own men were getting hit.

Nevertheless, the barrage was keeping the Germans pinned down, and with the support of the battalion's Lewis guns and machine guns were able to capture the line of trenches. Then A-Coy on the left side of the jumping-off line, and B-Coy on the right , began their advance. The first wave C and D Coys had made it to the line and the second wave Jack's was following behind.

When he was about yards from the line he was in a shell hole wounded. He was being bandaged-up and a sniper's bullet got him in the head. Jack was killed instantly. Some men said that he was just unconscious and was swaying back and forth.

However, one of the stretcher bearers, and a mate, Bill Brazier said that he was beside Jack when he was hit and he died immediately. Jack was believed to have been buried where he lay - in the shell hole - but it is not certain. Bodies were collected from the battlefield but some were badly torn apart by constant bombing. Jack's wife Doris and son John Eric were provided for by way of his pension and they moved to the suburb of Deagon.

The Queenslander 15 September He had three brothers and three sisters: H was known to all and sundry as "Jack". Jack undertook compulsory cadets part time for four years with Area 9A and trained at Fort Lytton. He had work as a grocer. He trained and was taken on strength with the 25th Battalion 10th Reinforcements on 17 December , Reg.

After some training there he was sent to France with the 25th Battalion but upon arrival was stricken with tonsillitis and hospitalised. In the morning of the 2nd August the battalion left for Pozieres to relieve the 19th Battalion in the front line. On the 3rd August the battalion experienced heavy shelling by the enemy. Thirteen of the men were killed and 20 others wounded.

The shelling continued all through the night and into the morning of the 4th of August. That day, shelling remained heavy. At 11am 7th Brigade Headquarters ordered an attack on the Pozieres Ridge enemy trenches with the objective of capturing them. Then the main barrage began with the men advancing behind the protective curtain of falling shells.

The Brigade captured the trench but the enemy counter-attacked with a very heavy barrage of shells on both trenches - mainly the devestating 9. It was now impossible to get supplies forward to the OG2 trench.

The men held their position until 6pm when they were relieved by the 28th Battalion - which had been held in reserve.

I have marked the likely spot on the map below. As well, 9 officers and ORs were wounded, and 1 officer and ORs were missing in action. Pozieres Ridge was now in the hand of the British. The carnage was so great that men's bodies were unidentifiable.

The shells dismembered the bodies and then dismembered them again and again. Jack was buried at the Courcellette British Cemetery in France that same day but he remained unidentified. Jack's father wrote on March asking if any of Jack's effects were recovered.

It is not hard to envisage why. Around the anniversary of Jack's death that year his family inserted a notice in the local paper:. He died for his country. Sleep on, beloved, sleep and take thy rest. Lay down thy head upon thy Saviour's breast.

We loved thee well, but Jesus loved thee best. They were satisfied with the progress. Of the twelve venues used, the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow and the Saint Petersburg Stadium — the two largest stadiums in Russia — were used most, both hosting seven matches.

Sochi, Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod and Samara all hosted six matches, including one quarter-final match each, while the Otkrytiye Stadium in Moscow and Rostov-on-Don hosted five matches, including one round-of match each. Volgograd, Kaliningrad, Yekaterinburg and Saransk all hosted four matches, but did not host any knockout stage games. Base camps were used by the 32 national squads to stay and train before and during the World Cup tournament.

Costs continued to balloon as preparations were underway. Platov International Airport in Rostov-on-Don was upgraded with automated air traffic control systems, modern surveillance, navigation, communication, control, and meteorological support systems.

Saransk Airport received a new navigation system; the city also got two new hotels, Mercure Saransk Centre Accor Hotels and Four Points by Sheraton Saransk Starwood Hotels as well as few other smaller accommodation facilities.

The last facility commissioned was a waste treatment station in Volgograd. In Yekaterinburg, where four matches are hosted, hosting costs increased to over 7. Preference, especially in the key areas, was given to those with knowledge of foreign languages and volunteering experience, but not necessarily to Russian nationals. Free public transport services were offered for ticketholders during the World Cup, including additional trains linking between host cities, as well as services such as bus service within them.

The full schedule was announced by FIFA on 24 July without kick-off times, which were confirmed later. Russia was placed in position A1 in the group stage and played in the opening match at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow on 14 June against Saudi Arabia , the two lowest-ranked teams of the tournament at the time of the final draw.

The Krestovsky Stadium in Saint Petersburg hosted the first semi-final on 10 July and the third place play-off on 14 July. The opening ceremony took place on Thursday, 14 June , at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, preceding the opening match of the tournament between hosts Russia and Saudi Arabia.

Former Brazilian World Cup-winning striker Ronaldo walked out with a child wearing a Russia shirt. English pop singer Robbie Williams then performed two songs before he and Russian soprano Aida Garifullina performed a duet while other performers emerged, dressed in the flags of all 32 teams and carrying a sign bearing the name of each nation. Dancers were also present.

Competing countries were divided into eight groups of four teams groups A to H. Teams in each group played one another in a round-robin basis, with the top two teams of each group advancing to the knockout stage.

Ten European teams and four South American teams progressed to the knockout stage, together with Japan and Mexico. For the first time since , Germany reigning champions did not advance past the first round. For the first time since , no African team progressed to the second round.

For the first time, the fair play criteria came into use, when Japan qualified over Senegal due to having received fewer yellow cards. Only one match, France v Denmark, was goalless. Until then there were a record 36 straight games in which at least one goal was scored. All times listed below are local time. The ranking of teams in the group stage was determined as follows: In the knockout stages, if a match is level at the end of normal playing time, extra time is played two periods of 15 minutes each and followed, if necessary, by a penalty shoot-out to determine the winners.

If a match went into extra time, each team was allowed to make a fourth substitution, the first time this had been allowed in a FIFA World Cup tournament.

Twelve own goals were scored during the tournament, doubling the record of six set in In total, only four players were sent off in the entire tournament, the fewest since A player is automatically suspended for the next match for the following offences: The following awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament. The award was sponsored by Hyundai. FIFA also published an alternate team of the tournament based on player performances evaluated through statistical data.

Prize money amounts were announced in October The tournament logo was unveiled on 28 October by cosmonauts at the International Space Station and then projected onto Moscow's Bolshoi Theatre during an evening television programme. Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko said that the logo was inspired by "Russia's rich artistic tradition and its history of bold achievement and innovation", and FIFA President Sepp Blatter stated that it reflected the "heart and soul" of the country.

The official mascot for the tournament was unveiled 21 October , and selected through a design competition among university students. A public vote was used to select from three finalists—a cat, a tiger, and a wolf. The first phase of ticket sales started on 14 September , The general visa policy of Russia did not apply to participants and spectators, who were able to visit Russia without a visa right before and during the competition regardless of their citizenship. A Fan-ID was required to enter the country visa-free, while a ticket, Fan-ID and a valid passport were required to enter stadiums for matches.

Fan-IDs also granted World Cup attendees free access to public transport services, including buses, and train service between host cities. Fan-ID was administered by the Ministry of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media , who could revoke these accreditations at any time to "ensure the defence capability or security of the state or public order". The official match ball of the World Cup group stage was " Telstar 18 ", based on the name and design of the first Adidas World Cup ball from It was introduced on 9 November After the group stage, "Telstar Mechta" was used for the knockout stage.

The word mechta Russian: The difference between Telstar 18 and Mechta is the red details on the design. Its music video was released on 8 June Thirty-three footballers who are alleged to be part of the steroid program are listed in the McLaren Report.

The choice of Russia as host has been challenged. Controversial issues have included the level of racism in Russian football, [] [] [] and discrimination against LGBT people in wider Russian society. Allegations of corruption in the bidding processes for the and World Cups caused threats from England's FA to boycott the tournament. Garcia , a US attorney, to investigate and produce a report on the corruption allegations.

Eckert's summary cleared Russia and Qatar of any wrongdoing, but was denounced by critics as a whitewash. On 3 June , the FBI confirmed that the federal authorities were investigating the bidding and awarding processes for the and World Cups. In response to the March poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal , British Prime Minister Theresa May announced that no British ministers or members of the royal family would attend the World Cup, and issued a warning to any travelling England fans.

The British Foreign Office and MPs had repeatedly warned English football fans and "people of Asian or Afro-Caribbean descent" travelling to Russia of "racist or homophobic intimidation, hooligan violence and anti-British hostility". At the close of the World Cup Russia was widely praised for its success in hosting the tournament, with Steve Rosenberg of the BBC deeming it "a resounding public relations success" for Putin, adding, "The stunning new stadiums, free train travel to venues and the absence of crowd violence has impressed visiting supporters.

Russia has come across as friendly and hospitable: All the foreign fans I have spoken to are pleasantly surprised. FIFA President Gianni Infantino stated, "Everyone discovered a beautiful country, a welcoming country, that is keen to show the world that everything that has been said before might not be true.

A lot of preconceived ideas have been changed because people have seen the true nature of Russia. The elimination of the US national team in qualifying led to concerns that US interest and viewership of this World Cup would be reduced especially among "casual" viewers interested in the US team , especially noting how much Fox paid for the rights, and that US games at the World Cup peaked at During a launch event prior to the elimination, Fox stated that it had planned to place a secondary focus on the Mexican team in its coverage to take advantage of their popularity among US viewers factoring Hispanic and Latino Americans.

Fox stated that it was still committed to broadcasting a significant amount of coverage for the tournament. In February , Ukrainian rightsholder UA: PBC stated that it would not broadcast the World Cup. This came in the wake of growing boycotts of the tournament among the Football Federation of Ukraine and sports minister Ihor Zhdanov.

Broadcast rights to the tournament in the Middle East were hampered by an ongoing diplomatic crisis in Qatar over alleged support of extremist groups.

Qatar is the home country of the region's rightsholder, beIN Sports. On 2 June , beIN pulled its channels from Du and Etisalat , but with service to the latter restored later that day. Etisalat subsequently announced that it would air the World Cup in the UAE, and continue to offer beIN normally and without interruptions. On 12 July , FIFA stated that it "has engaged counsel to take legal action in Saudi Arabia and is working alongside other sports rights owners that have also been affected to protect its interests.